High winds hit across Michigan

Passenger dies when tree falls on pickup truck.

Passenger dies when tree falls on pickup truck.

March 15, 2006

ORTONVILLE, Mich. (AP) -- A man was killed when high winds caused a tree to fall onto a moving pickup truck, authorities said. David Allen, a 25-year-old resident of Columbiaville in Lapeer County, was sitting in the passenger side of the truck when he was impaled by a tree branch around 2:30 p.m. Monday in Brandon Township, said Oakland County Sheriff's Sgt. Tim McIsaac. The truck driver and a female passenger were treated for injuries and released from a hospital. Sgt. Randy Praski said the 4-foot-diameter tree crushed the cab. It came down while much of Michigan was experiencing high winds as a low pressure center passed through the state. The highest wind gust recorded at the National Weather Service office in Oakland County's White Lake Township was 52 mph at 4:30 p.m. Monday. The winds were caused by a low pressure center that was to move toward Quebec, said Dave Gurney, a weather service meteorologist. As the center moved through Michigan, the temperature dropped from a high of 69 degrees at 4:04 p.m. Monday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport to a low of 33 around 8:15 a.m. Tuesday. Gurney said a 36-degree temperature swing is common in Michigan at this time of year. "You've got pretty big systems coming through. You warm up in front of them and cool down in back of them," he said. Temperatures in southeastern Michigan are expected to remain in the 30s and 40s through the week, and snow accumulation is possible Thursday afternoon as another storm system moves across the country from the northern Pacific, Gurney said. The weather service received reports of damage and power outages, mainly from tree limbs falling overnight, Gurney said.